Chapter One
Rose scented incense filled her bedroom with its heady aroma, pink and red candles flickered merrily on a table in front of an open bay window. Crystals strung from fishing wire reflected the light, gently twisting and turning in the slight breeze, casting small rainbows in the darkened room. Cassandra Redferne looked at her watch and saw it was nearly midnight, nearly time to begin, and she looked at the framed picture on the table. Cassidy smiled and sprinkled fresh rose petals around the picture. She had taken the picture recently, the spell demanded a recent picture, and she had surprised him. The black and white film didn't pick up that the eyes slightly widened were brown, mouth parted ever so, his sunglasses were in his hands but Cassidy had the camera on a serious zoom and it hadn't picked that up. But she remembered it. Cassidy sighed. It was time to begin, hopefully this one wouldn't backfire like the last ones had. She whispered the words of the spell and picked up the flamingo feather, bright pink, and circled it around the picture, around the votive candles. Sprinkled rose scented water over the picture. Then she sat on her ottoman and waited, murmuring the words of the spell over and over. A few minutes passed, when suddenly, a fog blew in through the open bay window, ghosted around the picture, candles and rose petals. When the fog reached her, it tingled and Cassidy giggled, stopped murmuring the spell. It was done. "You're mine, A.J." "What? Who is this?" A rough sounding male voice demanded on the other end of the speaker-phone. "Uh, my name's Cassidy Redferne and...um..well you see.." Cassidy gulped, suddenly nervous. "Listen, sweetheart, I have a girlfriend and I won't cheat on her so why don't you go bother Howie or Nick, they aren't taken. Don't bother calling back, I'm getting this number changed! And if you do ever call me back, I'll get the police on your ass so fast, you won't believe it!" There was a harsh click and Cassidy backed away from the phone. She heard dead silence from behind her. "Oh, Cassandra, I'm so sorry that your spell didn't work!" Cherie Colson sighed and watched a lone tear track down Cassidys face. The blond girl wiped at it and stared at her with hurt blue eyes. "Please, don't take this the wrong way, Cassandra." Cherie looked to the three girls behind her. "But maybe the spell was all wrong. You may have said some incantation with the wrong accent or something" The three behind Cherie nodded, but didn't say anything. A few minutes passed and one of them said, "Uh, Cherie, we have to go now. If you want to stay with Cassandra...." "Well, I should go now too, actually. There's a sale down at the store on candles and I need to restock." Cherie gathered her purse. "Listen, why don't you eat with us on Monday, we'll talk shop. Hmm, don't worry Cassidy, that guy's just very strong willed. I don't think he'd be that harsh with you in person." She giggled, "Maybe he didn't get any last night!" They sashayed out of Cassidy's room and in a few minutes, she heard the sound of Cherie's Mercedes pull away. Stunned, she stumbled to her bed, clutching a pillow to her chest, trying to make the tightening in her throat and the burning in her eyes go away. But it wouldn't and Cassidy sobbed. I've just made the biggest mistake of my life! Embarassing myself infront of the most popular and influental girls in high school! Plus I've pissed off the one guy I want the most. What am I gonna do? After an hour of sobbing and thinking, she came up with a plan. She ran to her mother's room, looking for the Book of Shadows she knew her mom had. Finding it and the ingredients she needed, Cassidy set up the spell. "This'll teach you to mess with a real witch. Kinda." With grim determination, she began the spell.